CarbonHQ wins the UN's Digital Innovation Challenge.

We’re excited to share some good news: CarbonHQ was selected as one of the winners of the Digital Innovation Challenge, run by the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) and UNCDF.

The challenge brought together startups and tech companies working to make clean cooking more accessible—whether by improving how data is collected, making it easier to access carbon finance, or helping businesses grow more efficiently. Out of 70+ applicants, ten teams were invited to a bootcamp in Nairobi to pitch their ideas. We were lucky enough to be one of them—and even luckier to walk away as one of four winners.

At CarbonHQ, our goal has always been to take the pain out of carbon project development. Clean cooking companies are doing important work on the ground, but generating carbon credits is still way too hard. The process is slow, technical, and full of manual steps. Our platform helps fix that—by automating credit calculations, cleaning up project data, and giving developers a clear view of what they’re earning and when.

The bootcamp was a great experience. We got to spend time with other amazing teams, learn from mentors at CCA and UNCDF, and stress-test our ideas in front of people who really understand the sector. The feedback we got was honest and super helpful. What seemed to resonate most was that we’re not pitching an idea—we’re already working with real projects, in places like Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya.

Winning means we’ll get support from CCA and UNCDF over the next six months to pilot the platform more widely and hopefully help more developers access finance without needing a big technical team or expensive consultants.

Big thanks to everyone involved in the challenge—it’s rare to find programs this hands-on and practical. We’re looking forward to what comes next. And if you’re working in clean cooking and want to chat about how we can help, reach out. We’d love to talk.